For the Love of Machines
by amy1oM-InnitMarvelous
Summary: One night a journey will start for JARVIS that will end in a way that no one, not even Tony, could have predicted what would happen. Part of my SIDES GREATEST REWARD verse!
1. It Begins Late One Night

**AN:** I honestly can't say when my updating scheduling for this story will happen but I hope I can and will finish this story as I think the outcome could be interesting.

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It all began late one night in Tony's workshop when the billionaire was going through a bout of insomnia, that he knew nothing short of more alcohol than he was actually comfortable drinking these days, would cure it. So every night after he was sure Pepper was asleep, and he knew the kids were out for the night, he'd head to his workshop for what he came to think of as the night shift.

It was during one of his night shift sessions that he had what he felt was a good idea if it wasn't brilliant.

"JARVIS, how would you like to able to fight with the Avengers the next time we need someone and Rhodey is not available?"

"If you are referring to permitting me to control one of your Iron Man suits, Sir, of course I am would be ready and willing to assist in any way I am able," the AI said.

"Not exactly what I meant, J, because I've already given you the ability to take over my suits when it is needed."

"Then what precisely did you mean, Sir?"

"What I meant is, how would you like your own… body for want of a better term, to use under your own autonomous control?"

JARVIS was silent a moment before speaking, and when he did, Tony could hear the surprise in the AI's voice, "You would trust me with such an important thing, Sir?"

"Of course I would trust you with _such a thing_ , JARVIS! Why wouldn't I?" Tony shot back.

"Well, Sir, I know how… shall we say, particular you are about who has access to your Iron Man suits, and just so given their potential for destruction."

"But you're not just _anyone_ , J! For years, I've trusted you with securing my home, and then after I became Iron Man there are have been times I've had to trust you with my life during a fight! Once I wised up, and finally got a clue about Pepper, I've trusted you to help keep her safe, especially when she's away on an overseas trip. But most of all, I've trusted you to keep the one thing in this world other than Pepper, that is more… precious to me than _anything_ I have in my life, and that is my children. Not even being Iron Man or the suits mean as much to me as they do because I'd give up both in a heartbeat if I thought that was what best for them!"

JARVIS was silent for a long period of time and when he spoke there was a touched quality to the AI's voice. "I am deeply honored, Sir, that you would express such trust in me."

"You know, JARVIS, I would repeat myself about how loyal you've always been over the years but I think that there's been enough of the completely unadulterated, sentimental bunkum, don't you?"

"Indeed, Sir."

"Anyway," Tony began running a hand over his finally tired eyes, "This will have to wait until tomorrow or more likely the next chance I have to come down to the shop." Since they were born, Tony had always made sure that he had made his children his priority over his work. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with them because they were growing up too fast and he wanted the good memories to be there when they looked back on their childhood.

Oh, that isn't to say that there were never times when he had to temporarily push his work up into a higher slot, but thankfully those times were few and far in between. They usually happened because of the superpowered freaks and megalomaniacs who didn't seem to get the memo that the Avengers were not just going to stand by and let them take over the world.

"i understand, Sir. Shall I begin saving all projects currently open on the monitor?"

Tony gave a gaping yawn before saying, "Yeah, and shut down everything while you're at it, will ya?"

"Certainly, Sir," JARVIS responded as his creator began to make his way towards the elevator. As he dimmed the workshop's lights, the AI said, "Goodnight, Sir, and pleasant dreams."

"Thanks, J."


	2. On the Battlefield

Tony forget his idea of building a body for JARVIS until the after the next time the Avengers had been called to assemble, and the team had nearly suffered one of their worst losses in more ways than one. It all began when HYDRA made a resurgence, and things went from bad to worse when during the fight, the world be world conquerors started using Loki's scepter against them. They had stolen it on the day SHIELD had fallen and somehow had kept that fact quiet until this day when they began using it as a weapon against the Avengers.

The fight turned truly took its worse turn when Clint was hit by a direct scepter blast. They then all watched as he fell to the ground and he didn't move again. Although they were all aware for the reason that Natasha had been given the codename but to witness firsthand just how lethal she could be when given the right motivation was another thing entirely as she took the half dozen heavily HYDRA goons to reach her husband's side.

After using his shield to take down three HYDRA soldiers of his own, Steve spared a glance in their direction, and asked, "How is he? Natasha?"

But it wasn't Natasha who answered their captain's query though. Instead they heard Clint's pained, and somewhat on the incensed side, voice fill the comm.

"Ah, it can't be too bad," Tony quipped, "Not with the way Barton is currently swearing colorfully, and quite impressively I might add, in every language seemingly known to man."

At that crack, Clint switched to English long enough to growl at him, "You're very lucky that you're the dad of one of my favorite nephews and niece, Stark, or I'd so show you _why_ you don't poke fun at a swearing, angry, and in lots of pain master _assassin_!"

Tony's team didn't even have to be able to see his mouth in that moment to know that he had it poised to antagonize the archer further with a sarcastic retort, so Steve decided wisely to save him from any wrath by interrupting to ask, "Just how bad it is, Nat?"

Although her voice sounded calm to anyone who didn't know her as they all did by now, Steve heard the strain in Natasha's voice when she replied, "We need a medivac, _now_!"

Steve immediately switched his comm channel to the one he knew SHIELD would be monitoring, and asked, "Did you copy that, SHIELD 1-1-3-8?"

"We copied, Captain Rogers," Coulson's own voice responded. "Medivac have been dispatched and ETA to your location is ten minutes out."

"Copy that," Steve replied before switching his comm back to the Avengers frequency to tell Natasha the news.

"I don't have ten minutes, Cap, not with the way I'm bleeding. Tasha's doing everything that she can to stop it but I'm going to bleed out before they get here!" There was a click of silence before they heard Clint added, "You know that I'm right, Tash."

Again there was more silence and the fact that the archer responded to her again told them that she had either shut off her comm or more likely had muted her end so they couldn't hear what she was saying to him. "We've seen too many agents hurt this bad for us not to face the fact I'm not going to make it until they get here."

Deciding that they shouldn't be listening in on the couple's intimate conversation, Steve signaled the others to switch their comms to a different frequency, "Thor, if Hawkeye is as bad as he says he is, we may need you to fly him to the medivac. Can you?".

"If Blondie doesn't do it, I will!" Tony interjected. "Although, it'd probably be safer for Birdbrain if Hammertime does it instead of me!"

"Thor?"

"I will take Barton," Thor finally confirmed with a grunt, which was followed by the sound of his hammer connecting with HYDRA goon heads. Once he had downed the final one, he began to swing his hammer in a circle, then took off for Natasha and Clint's position.

When he arrived, it was clear that the two master spies/assassins were completely unaware of the discussion, the decision that had been made for Clint to be taken to the medivac flight instead of waiting for it to reach him. It was clear that Thor was taking a small fraction of time to relay at least some of the conversation that had been had before he bent to left Clint with such infinite gentleness that it belied his Herculean brute strength image. But even with Thor's great care not to hurt Clint any further, the archer let out an agonized scream before he lapsed into merciful unconsciousness.

Steve switched his comm channel back in time to hear Natasha say in a quiet, worried, and angry voice, "Don't you _dare_ die on me, Barton! You hear me? I maybe the Black Widow who can look death in the eye without blinking but even I don't want to have to face telling our daughter or son that their Dad is not ever coming home again!" Not having time for anything else, she kissed Clint's brow, touching his too pale face before she looked at the Asgardian. "Thor-"

"I will take the greatest care with him, and we will reach those who can save him in time. You have my word."

Natasha nodded, trusting him to keep his word. She then looked at Clint and after saying a soft "Ya lyublyu tebya*…" into his ear, she said to Thor, "Go!"

Thor nodded and she stepped back as he swung his hammer again, and took off into the sky.

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*= Means **I love you** in Russian according to Google Translate.


	3. Back Home

Clint slowly returned to the land of the living, to a low blended murmur of the heart monitor and voices nearby talking in quiet tones. He didn't need Stark's level of intelligence to know that they had him on some strong painkillers right now because he was definitely feeling no pain. But other than the initial disorientation of coming to, his head was as clear as a bell, and that puzzled him as to how that could be possible.

"Hey, I think he's awake!" he heard Cap's voice say.

In the next second, Bruce Banner's face appeared, and the man smiled widely at Clint when he saw he was indeed awake. "JARVIS, would you please tell Natasha that Clint has woken up, and then would you ask both Tony and Doctors Cho and Simmons to please come here?"

"Certainly, Dr. Banner."

JARVIS? Wait that meant that-

"Yeah, you're back at the tower," Bruce answered his unspoken question as Steve, and not surprisingly Coulson appeared within his line of vision.

"How?" he croaked, his voice gravelly and hoarse.

"It's because Agent Simmons was onboard the medivac Thor met up with and she was able to get you stabilized enough to make the return trip back here possible," said the SHIELD director as he stepped up beside the other two men.

Bruce poured the archer a cup of water, and helped him take a few sips. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Turning his gaze to Coulson he said with obvious frustrated annoyance, "Since you're here, sir, I take it that we didn't get Loki's scepter back."

"No, we… that is the rest of the Avengers, were not able to take back the scepter. After Thor flew away with you, HYDRA decided to make a tactically sound and wise decision to retreat," Coulson confirmed.

Clint swore softly, shaking his head, "I don't understand why they'd do that since they would have had the advantage because the team would have been down two Avengers. I'm not sure even the Hulk at his angriest-" he glanced at Bruce, "could make up for the fact that we were down by two."

"Or maybe," Tony said as he entered the room,"The cowards were afraid of the Widow's bite from the not so Itsy Bitsy Spider, and deciding tucking their tails between their legs before legging it out of there was the best course of action. Speaking of which _where_ is Red? I thought she would have beaten us here-" He gestured at Cho and Simmons who had followed him in, "by a _huge_ margin."

Almost at the same time the words left his mouth, Tony found himself nearly knocked flat to the ground when Natasha hurried into the room, and pushed him aside. She shot towards the bed like a speeding bullet where her lips crashed against Clint's own waiting ones, and for once the two master assassins/spies were oblivious to the fact they were putting on quite the public display of affection.

Their kiss went on for such an impossible (and impressive) length of time, that Tony had had his mouth opened to make what likely would have been a crude comment but never had the chance to say it as Steve's hand clamped firmly down over his mouth. When he heard Coulson muttered the word _supernanny_ , he stopped trying to get out of the hold Steve still had over him.

Neither Coulson or Steve could miss the widening of the billionaire's eyes but just to be sure he asked quietly, "Message received?"

Tony nodded an affirmative.

Satisfied that he would not give voice to whatever snarky comment that had been in his head just moments ago, the SHIELD director nodded to his boyhood hero, and the two men stepped away from Tony just as the two deadly lovebirds broke up their kiss.

"I'm sorry," Clint apologized a bit breathlessly to his wife.

With her indifferent spy mask firmly back in place, Natasha replied, "Just don't let it happen again, Barton."

"Yes, ma'am."

Tony whistled, and quipped, "Wow is it just me or did it go from like Tahiti hot in here to dead of winter Siberian cold in like a microsecond flat?"

"Stark!" More than one voice, including that of the man in the hospital bed, contributed to the reprimand even as Natasha turned around to nail Tony with one of her dirtiest looks ever.

Tony raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, and he decided that changing the subject was in order. "So anyway, what was it that you were saying about Loki's scepter and HYDRA when we came in, Director Agent?"

"Uh, shouldn't we call Thor in first if we're going to have this discussion right now?" Bruce asked.

"No, what you should do is all clear the room so I can examine my patient!" Dr. Cho said. "I would like for everyone who isn't Dr. Simmons, Agent Romanoff, or myself to please leave the room now. And before you ask, Tony, everyone means you too!"

"But it's _my_ tower!"

"And Agent Barton is _my_ patient who has the right to confidentiality under the law," The small Korean woman shot back without missing a beat She pointed at the door, and made a shooing gesture, "Out please… or do I need to give _Mrs._ Stark a call?"

"Oh wow, Helen, you're so bossy! See if I invite you over to play again anytime soon!" Tony whined as he exited the room.

Shaking her head, Dr. Cho muttered something in her own language before she cleaned her hands, and donned rubber gloves. She approached the bed from the side Natasha was not on, and began removing Clint's bandages, saying over her shoulder, "Would you like to take a look along with me, Dr. Simmons?"

Shaking herself out of her deer caught in headlights shock that had been induced by the now absent mechanical billionaire genius, Jemma smiled, and said, "Of course, doctor. I am very eager to see the results of your handiwork!"

At the very moment that Doctor Cho had cut away and removed the last bandage over Clint's wounds, Natasha looked away. Yes, she had seen and had caused plenty of gore since she had completed her training in the Red Room. But even so she couldn't bring herself to look at her husband's wounds again, especially not when she could close her eyes right now, and see his blood pouring out from his side. Regardless of how hard she'd pressed to stop it, the flow had remained the same and she knew that Clint had been right when he said he would bleed out in ten minutes without immediate medical intervention.

Every instinct she had either through training or by experience told Natasha that Clint should be lying dead on a cold morgue slab somewhere instead of the actually comfortable hospital bed that Stark had provided when he had stocked the tower's infirmary floor.

"What the…" Natasha heard Clint say, obvious surprise in his tone. " _That_ is not what I expected to see!"

"I must agree, Dr. Cho!" Simmons said, then added excitedly, "Being the first physician to render treatment to Agent Barton's wounds, I honestly expected to find find them only minorly healed at this point but the results of your treatment have far exceeded my expectations! It's amazing that not only are his wounds all but gone but there's hardly any scarring left behind to speak of!"

At hearing this, Natasha whipped her head around to look at Clint's chest and abdomen, relieved to find out that the SHIELD scientist was not exaggerating. There were no wounds on him, and what's more the only scars she could see present were the ones she knew he had already from past assignments!

As she lightly touched the areas where his wounds had been, Dr. Cho could not quite hide her own astonishment over this turn of events. But still just to be sure thing were as they seemed, she pressed a little heavier and asked, "Is this sensitive or uncomfortable in anyway when I do this?"

"No."

"Does it hurt?"

"No, it feels fine."

With a nod, and a snap of the rubber gloves coming off, Dr. Cho said, "I see no reason to reapply your bandages since your wounds have completely healed."

"So does this mean that I can get out of here today?"

The Korean doctor shook her head, "No, it does not! You lost a lot of blood before Dr. Simmons was able to get it under control. Yes, we replaced the lost blood with a transfusion, but pair the blood loss with the fact I want to keep you here to watch for infection. So no, that means you will not be leaving the infirmary today!"

"Oh great," the archer groused.

"Do not worry, Agent Barton," the doctor said, "I am quite certain that this will be nothing more than one night's stay for you. I just want to be certain that no infection has set in."

"Good 'cause, and you can ask SHIELD doctor about this, I am not the most patient patient in the world when it comes to getting out of the infirmary!"

"Come now, Agent Barton, I find that very hard to believe!" Dr. Cho quipped with a smile and facetious tone before she added, "In any case, barring any complications, I do not see why you won't be cleared to leave the infirmary and be allowed to return to your own floor come tomorrow, or the day after on the outside."

Clint clearly wasn't happy to be forced to stay in bed, but he didn't argue any further. Instead he asked, "Hey, doc, would it be alright for the others to come back in now and we finish our conversation?"

"Yes, it's okay as long as you promise me you'll end things if you start to feel yourself getting tired."

Natasha gave him a meaningful look, and assured the doctor, "Oh don't worry about that."

Cho heard Natasha's message of _I'll break things up if he doesn't do it first_ , and she nodded, "JARVIS, would you please tell everyone that it's alright if they come back in now?"

"Yes, of course, Doctor."

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 **AN:** Well I hope what I wrote above wasn't too out of character for Clint and Natasha!


End file.
